Business Briefing: Türkiye Earthquakes Humanitarian Response Overview / İşletme Bilgilendirme Toplantısı: Türkiye’deki Depremlerde İnsani Müdahaleye Genel Bakış

Two devastating earthquakes struck Kahramanmaraş, Turkey on 6 February 2023, measuring 7.7 and 7.6 on the Richter scale. The initial earthquake has been followed by over 3,100 aftershocks. At least 9.1 million people are directly impacted in Türkiye and an additional 8.8 million in Syria.

Hundreds of organizations are on the ground supporting the government-led response, including businesses of all sizes. Small and local businesses are vital in local sourcing of materials needed. Large Turkish companies, as well as multinationals from different parts of the world provided both cash and in-kind donations.  

Recognizing their role in the communities they serve and are a part of, businesses play an important role in supporting humanitarian response. Private sector resources – skills, access, products and services – can make a difference in times of crisis. But business contributions go further when they are aligned with and in support of the broader government-led response.

In this Business Briefing from the OCHA/UNDP Connecting Business initiative, the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TÜRKONFED), the Business for Goals (B4G) platform and the UN Global Compact Network Turkiye, learn:
- How the UN humanitarian coordination works
- How businesses can support the humanitarian response in Türkiye

The workshop will be primarily conducted in English, with simultaneous interpretation to/from Turkish.

Intended outcomes

In Türkiye, the CBi Member Network is hosted by the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TÜRKONFED) and the Business for Goals Platform. TÜRKONFED is a non-governmental, non-partisan business organization that represents 30 Turkish business federations and 300 business associations that collectively count more than 50,000 individual companies as members.  

In this business briefing, participants are expected to gain appreciation of the role of the private sector in supporting the humanitarian response led by the Government of Türkiye. Specifically, the session aims to: 

• Brief private sector partners on the role of the UN and humanitarian agencies in supporting the Government-led response to the Türkiye earthquakes; and,  
• Facilitate an exchange of updates and insights on how the private sector can support the response and recovery efforts.